Elder Maxwell had a few things to say about the fashionable (but real) despair of his day and ours.

Sadness and badness are mutually reinforcing, for “despair cometh because of iniquity.” (Moro. 10:22.)

Let us, therefore, place several such lamentations beside the revelations of God. The expressions of despair beside the divine annunciations of hope. The fears of extinction alongside the reassurances of the Resurrection. The provincialism beside the universalism of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we shall see how myopic some mortals are, like absorbed children in a tree house pretending they are brave and alone!

…. To a world spiritually illiterate, you give great lessons in the grammar of the gospel, including this one: death is a mere comma, not an exclamation point!

–from the Saturday morning session of the April 1983 General Conference

It reminds me of these words of comfort I read this morning from Elder Christofferson at last conference.

Always remember the promise of good things to come, both now and hereafter, for those who are firm and steadfast in the faith of Christ. Remember “eternal life, and the joy of the saints.”²⁵ “O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever.”

Other Posts from the Saturday Morning Session of the April 1983 Session of General Conference

In the Valley of Decision
Custodians of hope